Am.  Jour.  Pharm  ) 
Mar,  1879.  J 
V arieties. 
H7 
anilin  colors,  though  he  never  met  with  any  in  the  samples  submitted  to  him  as 
assayer. 
For  several  years  Professor  Babcock  was  the  official  analyst  of  Boston,  and  made 
analyses  of  milk  for  the  milk  inspector.  About  a  quarter  of  the  milk  sold  was 
found  to  be  diluted  with  water  and  the  color  restored  by  the  use  of  burnt  sugar. 
He  had  never  found  any  other  adulterations  in  milk.    He  said: 
*'  All  the  stories  of  sheep's  brains,  starch,  flour,  chalk,  etc.,  as  adulterants  of  milk 
are  idle  fancies.  Records  of  the  milk  inspector  of  the  city  of  Boston,  Mi.  Henry 
Faxon,  whom  I  believe  to  be  a  faithful  and  efficient  officer,  contain  sworn  statements 
of  the  results  of  analyses  of  milk,  the  first  in  1859  by  Dr  A.  A.  Hayes,  and 
followed  in  succeeding  years  by  others,  from  the  late  Charles  T.  Carney,  Dr.  Charles 
T.  Jackson,  Dr.  J.  C.  White  and  Professor  J.  M.  Merrick,  including  about  one 
hundred  by  myself,  a  record  of  twenty  years,  and  compribing  nearlv  five  hundred 
analyses,  and  in  no  instance  is  anything  other  than  water  and  caramel  reported." 
The  average  amount  of  water  found  in  Boston  milk  was  about  10  per  cent.  ;  but 
that  amount  is  decreasing.  He  knew  of  no  adulteration  of  butter,  except  possibly 
hy  the  addition  of  oleomargarin,  which  if  properly  prepared  is  worth  even  more 
than  butter  as  a  food.  He  never  found  granular  or  block  sugar  adulterated.  In 
exceptional  cases  glucose  has  been  worked  up  with  cheap  sugar  ,•  but  glucose  is  not 
injurious.    It  is  less  sweet  than  cane  sugar,  but  has  almost  the  same  food  value. 
Glucose  comprises  about  80  per  cent,  of  honey,  about  60  per  cent,  of  dried  figs. 
It  is  the  substance  into  which  in  the  body  all  starchy  or  saccharine  food  must  be 
first  converted  before  it  can  be  assimilated.  Bread  and  cane  sugar  when  taken  into 
the  body  are  very  rapidly  changed  into  glucose. 
In  molasses  the  absence  of  foreign  substances  is  almost  the  universal  rule.  The 
cheaper  grades  of  syrups  are  sometimes  mixed  with  glucose,  but  not  in  any  of  the 
refineries  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  Alum  and  tin  are  sometimes  used  in  bleach- 
ing syrup,  but  their  use  is  not  countenanced  by  the  better  class  of  reefiners. 
When  tin  and  alum  are  used,  the  object  is  the  saving  of  time  and  labor.  Their 
use  is  very  limited. 
Candy,  though  a  good  deal  mixed  with  glucose,  is  rarely  adulterated  with  any- 
thing injurious  to  health.  "  There  are  some  candy  toys,  not  intended,  but  of 
course  liable,  to  be  eaten  by  children,  which  are  sometimes  painted  or  colored  with 
poisons — metallic  pigments — but  I  think  the  attention  which  has  been  called  to  this 
matter  by  the  published  reports  of  the  State  and  city  boards  of  health  and  the  prose- 
cution of  one  or  two  manufacturers  last  year  has  had  a  very  beneficial  effect,  and  I 
think  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  Boston  at  the  present  time  candy  adulterated  or 
colored  with  any  substance  likely  to  be  injurious.  Starch  is  used  to  a  considerable 
extent  in  making  lozenges,  and  gum  arabic  in  some  kinds  of  confectionery,  also 
gelatin,  but  these  can  hardly  be  called  adulterations,  as  they  are  well-known  articles 
of  food." 
The  adulterations  of  ground  mustard,  pepper,  spices,  etc.,  are  of  a  nature  to 
affect  the  pocket  rather  than  the  health.  The  same  may  be  said  of  teas  and  coffees. 
Of  the  general  purity  of  drugs,  Professor  Babcock  said  :  *i  I  think  of  all  classes 
of  merchants,  retail  druggists  are  less  guilty  of  adulterating  their  goods  than  any 
other." — Scientific  American,  March  1,  1879. 
